


A Serious Handler

by masterofbones



Category: Monster Hunter (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:06:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26577271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masterofbones/pseuds/masterofbones
Summary: The Sapphire Star gets a temporary replacement handler and finds out just how much he's been missing.
Relationships: Serious Handler (Monster Hunter)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 43





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there, Masterofbones here. While playing MHW Icebourne, I came to absolutely adore the Serious Handler. I wanted a more in depth look at her and the main character's relationship, but was shocked to find that practically nothing had been done already. So I decided to rectify that as best as I could. Enjoy!

“For the time being, allow me to be your Handler. Sound good?”

These were the words that would send me on a hunt like no other I have experienced. They didn’t seem that important at the time, but now? Now they are more valuable to me than any carve could ever be. 

My name is Raed(pronounced “raid”), and I am a Monster Hunter. I’m a member of the fifth fleet, and not just any member - I’m the Sapphire Star, the one that is turned to when things get truly rough. My handler and I have dealt with monsters whose mere screams would cause other hunters to flee. Well… I say we did it, but really it was just me. And that was the problem.

My handler was a chipper and overeager young woman. A lover of food, and completely fearless. No, I don’t mean brave. Fearless. She lacked any of the instincts of self preservation needed to survive in the wild. I have no idea how she lived long enough to meet me. I am intensely aware of how she survived after that. 

Every day we went out she would charge into dangerous territory, arms flailing in excitement. Her shouts of joy and curiosity would echo through the forests. To the shock of nobody but her, this would attract a predator, and I would, just like in every hunt before, dive in to rescue her. If she had been assigned to anyone with even slightly slower reflexes, she would have died a hundred times over. I can remember quite a number of times I nearly died from throwing my body between her and a monster. Not that the scars and aches are ever likely to let me forget. 

But that was my training - protect the handler. So I did my job, and she… did enough. She handled the paperwork and she cooked well. And since that was her job, I didn’t complain. We had more important things to take care of - a suicidally oblivious handler was a fairly minor concern when compared to saving the new world from destruction. Unfortunately, she seemed to take my stoicism as affection, and began acting more and more familiar with me. Regardless of what she might say, I am not, and never was, her “pard”. She was my handler, and I was the hunter. So I ignored her and continued my work. 

That continued for some time. I liked my Palico, “Dog”, but I wasn’t particularly good with people, so I didn’t do much chatting with the rest of the fleet. They gave me the mission, I did it. A researcher needed an ingredient or part, I got it for them, if for no other reason than to keep them from blindly wandering around the wilderness themselves. All of them were affable enough, but there was nobody who I grew close to. Hunting monsters was who I was. “Monster Hunter” would have been a more accurate label for me than my name. I would do hunts, gather supplies, fix things that the handler broke, rescue her from her own stupidity, and stop another cataclysmic threat. And I was pretty happy with how things were. It was a good life. I was active, I ate well, I had a satisfying job, and my work visibly helped the society I was part of. Hard to complain in a situation like that, even if there were a few minor annoyances and injuries here and there. Better than being a piscine researcher who needs other people to fish for him.

Every once in a while my handler would inquire about me, my thoughts, or my past. I would brush her off as quickly as I could. She was loud and chatty, and my thoughts were my own. I had no interest in engaging with her outside of our work. So soon enough she would turn back to her work, or more frequently, her food, and I would pet Dog. 

Eventually the fifth fleet established a base in Seliana. I was happy that the design - both defensible and accessible - was far superior to previous bases. It was as compact as the research base without being a veritable maze of books and junk, and it avoided the massive sprawl of our original setup. The one questionable choice in my eyes was that the commander put some kid in charge. I silently doubted the wisdom of that decision, but concluded that it was better him than me. I may have had hunting skills, but I had seen how all those researchers swarm around the leaders. I would either have gone comatose or ended up on a killing spree, neither a particularly good thing. I only hoped that he wouldn’t lead us all to our deaths. 

The Admiral, our spiky yellow haired resident “too old to give a shit” member of the first fleet seemed to be enjoying himself in Seliana. It was a regular sight in the morning to see him roar at the sky before charging into the wilderness. I didn’t show it as much, but I was enjoying myself too. New monsters, new gear, and a flashy new grabber claw. Incredibly dangerous to use, but quite effective when it worked, and pretty fun as well. In other words, perfect. The handler continued to follow along on my missions, muttering to herself about food while she wrote in her notebook. Better than charging in.I suppose. 

One such creature I hunted was the Viper Tobi-Kodachi. The giant squirrelly creature was a pain and a half. I had never treated his sparky cousin with much respect, and so I may have underestimated him from the beginning. We first encountered him in an ice cavern on an expedition in the Hoarfrost Reach. The handler wanted to enter a tunnel, but the Viper was in the way. For whatever reason she decided that she needed to stand between me and the Viper in order to loudly announce this, but that was nothing new. 

I shooed her behind me and hoped that she would stay out of the way for the fight. New variations meant new tricks. The monster opened with a bite, and as I rolled to the side I noted that his teeth crackled with energy - likely a paralytic element. One of the downsides of favoring hammers is that It was best for me to face him head-on even so. Now just as long as there were no other tricks up its sleeve…

“Oh wow, it sure looks hungry!”

Inane words tried to break my focus as the light footed creature swung its tail. I caught a glimpse of my handler standing out in the open, happily pointing at its gaping mouth. The tail attack was easy enough to dodge, but I almost didn’t notice the spikes that erupted from it, flying directly towards my handler’s unaware body. 

I dove in the way, blocking them from hitting her as she belatedly scrambled for cover. I could feel strong venom entering my veins, and it was now that I realized how much of a problem this creature really was. Dangerous on both ends, and quite nimble to boot. I popped the cork on an antidote and chugged down the sour and viscous goop as quickly as I could before returning to the fight. The venom had taken quite a chunk out of me, but I felt I could take a few more hits safely. 

After taking some time fighting defensively to gain a little familiarity with its tells, I began doing my job in earnest. A quick blow to the head, dodge the claw. Uppercut blow to the face, roll away. It roared, disorienting me long enough to get a light tail swipe, but I rolled with the blow to minimize damage and… Once again I felt venom coursing through me painfully. Time for another antidote. 

Halfway through my antidote supply, I was starting to get annoyed. Dog was doing a good job ripping off useful bits from the monster here and there, but otherwise this fight wasn’t going great. I still hadn’t managed to stun this thing, and I’d been doing my best to pound its face in. Finally it fell over, and I charged towards it to get in some real damage while it flailed around.

“Ahhh! Oh no!” A cry of panic echoed in the cavern

Fuck. I turned begrudgingly from the creature, knowing full well that I was missing out on my hard earned but short-lived window of opportunity. I ran towards the sound, hoping this new problem wouldn’t take too long to solve. 

I found my handler hanging onto an ice ledge. She had probably been reaching for a berry bush I could see a few feet down. I grimaced and hauled her up - she was surprisingly heavy for such a small girl. She made sure to snag a few of the berries as I did so, popping them into her mouth as if none of this was out of the ordinary… which was depressingly accurate. “Thanks Pard!” 

Ignoring her, I turned back to the Viper, who of course at this point had recovered and was charging right towards me. I had no time to react, and so the blow struck solidly. First with a tail swipe poisoning and staggering me, then with its fangs digging deep into my flesh. A wrench of its neck sent me tumbling down the ledge. I reached out to slow my fall, only to be bluntly reminded of the paralytic effect of the monster’s jaws. My muscles ignored my wishes and instead spasmed merrily, freed as they were from the control of their tyrannical master. I landed in a heap, unable to do more than twitch as pain from the venom spread from the thorn in my side. I was not a fan of the poison and paralysis combo. Were I capable of doing so, I might have even voiced my opinions on the matter aloud. 

Fortunately my palico came to the rescue. A little percussive maintenance to my head was enough of a system shock to snap my system out of the effect, and he managed it before the venom or the Viper had enough time to finish me off. I chugged an antidote followed by a healing potion, then climbed up the ledge before the Viper decided that a handler would make a great meal. I realized I would need another hot drink soon too… This whole fight was taking so much longer than it needed to. 

I jogged up to the monster, slinging a rock at its head to regain its attention. Good fortune was finally with me when I saw it spin away to land directly under a stalactite. A quickly aimed slinger shot brought it down on him, knocking him over and giving me time to really get down and dirty. A few blows to the face left its skull cracked and lopsided. A few strikes to its forelimbs had it limping. I regretted not having a blade to remove its infuriating tail, but it was hard to give up the satisfying heft of a good hammer. The Viper was panting and whimpering now, so I took a sip of my hot drink and began setting up a shock trap. 

“Hey over here, look at this!”

No. No no. No no no. This couldn’t be real. I watched in horror as the Viper bounded away from me towards the handler’s voice, leaving behind the trap I had placed so carefully. But there was no time for mourning - the handler was in danger. I charged after the Viper, pulling out my weapon once more and channelling my fury into the more constructive form of bashing in a monster’s brains. 

I arrived to see the Viper circling the handler with malicious hunger on its face. I leapt at it, striking it directly between the eyes, knocking it off its feet. Then I smashed my hammer down once, twice, three, four, five times, each blow faster and harder than the last. No matter how angry I was, that final swing in the chain was always so wonderfully satisfying, especially when accompanied, as it was this time, by the death cry of a slain monster. 

I sucked in a breath and relaxed, my fury abated. Contentment washed through me. This moment was why I loved my job. A difficult task complete, and only the rewards to look forward to. But my reverie was interrupted all too soon. 

“Nice job Pard! But look, I caught a moon slug! Do you think it’s edible?” She looked around and pondered, “Wait… wasn’t there something we were doing before? Something important. Oh that’s right, now we can explore the tunnel!”

The moment was shattered. I sighed and crouched down, carving a few pieces of the monster off before standing up and following the oblivious ball of energy, my face a mournful grimace. I lightened up a bit as Dog proudly showed me the bag of pieces he had managed to carve from the monster, and I scratched his ears as a reward. The Plunderers certainly knew the best possible tool for a palico, and Dog had taken to using the plunderblade quite well. 

We came out of the tunnel to find a small shipwreck in the ice, surrounded by duffel penguins. The old expert tracker from the first fleet was there, and the handler began talking with her excitedly as they explored the ship. I figured I wouldn’t have to be too careful as long as the handler was with the tracker. You didn’t get to be old in this line of business without picking up at least a little caution. 

I walked up to the ship and leaned up against it while I waited for the pair. I idly listened to their words as I rested my eyes, and heard something about a blue stone they found in the wreckage, presumably a piece of an old monster. Apparently her grandfather was as blase about the rules as she was, for he had brought back a monster piece to her in the old world years back that matched this one. Neither of them seemed to care about how many rules that broke, and continued the conversation nonchalantly. Handler seemed under the impression that her grandfather had been trying to send her a message with this relic. My unspoken counter-theory was that her inability to do her job correctly was genetic, and that he had sent his granddaughter a pretty rock he thought she would like. My attention wandered as they continued talking about the blue stonelike objects and their various theories on what they could be. 

As they spoke, another pair approached. One, a hunter who I had a... less than stellar opinion of... had become distracted examining the ship, with his handler only reining him in with significant effort. Cat-herding complete, she turned back to us.

“Astera is calling back its hunters, we need to return ASAP”

I nodded and straightened up, ready to depart. My partner on the other hand, reacted quite differently. 

“What?” Handler looked visibly perturbed and turned to the Tracker. “I thought I was getting closer to the truth…”

The Tracker put her arm on Handler’s shoulder. “Then we’ll get there together. You wanna know what really happened right? Same for me. We won’t let this get away from us.”

My eyes widened in concern. If I was reading this right, Tracker wanted to wander off alone with Handler, leaving me alone to do the hunting and the paperwork. Handler saw the dismay on my face and hesitated. 

“Thanks but… My partner and I always work together, we need each other!” 

I don’t think she quite understood the issue, but close enough. 

“Come with me or go home.” The Tracker was really pumped for this little partnership for some reason. “Don’t second guess yourself, there’s no time!”

The other hunter’s handler stepped forward. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I can fill in for you and help while you are gone.” 

She wore a serious expression, had good posture, and best of all, she was offering to take care of the paperwork. She looked me in the eyes with a confidant expression. “For the time being, allow me to be your Handler. Sound good?”

That was enough for me. 

“An offer from the best handler in Astera? You’d be crazy to refuse!” The other hunter walked up beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. The handler looked at me questioningly, and I gave a small nod of acceptance. 

“Everyone, thank you so much!” This new offer apparently covered all my handler’s concerns as well, as she practically bounced with excitement. 

“Have fun!” the other hunter gave a laughing nudge to his handler before giving me a sideways glance. 

“Okay, looks like we are done here, let’s go.” With a stony face his handler completely ignored him, though this time she seemed unwilling to meet my eyes.

The hunter had no such problem, and grinned at me. “Good luck!” he shouted before jogging off.

My handler turned to me, “This won’t be for nothing. Partner, take care”

I nodded and turned away.


	2. Chapter 2

My temporary handler and I began walking back to Seliana in silence. It was quite nice being able to walk alongside someone without constant chatter filling the air. I was able to hear the breeze, the cries of the duffel penguins, and the crunch of snow underfoot. In this quiet I’d be able to detect any threats long before they arrived, and the gentle sounds were easy on the ear as well. I glanced over at the handler, wondering what she was thinking. 

“I feel like I could hear a monster coming from a mile away right now.” The handler murmured. She saw my glance and gave a small smile. 

I snorted lightly in amusement, the fog from my breath hiding my expression. “That’s what I was thinking,” I replied quietly, before looking back toward the trail. We continued in that peaceful way for a while. 

All too soon, that silence was interrupted by hearty laughter and trills that sounded to me like the call of the fuzzy tailed, palico-sized Pearlspring Macaque. We rounded a bend in the trail to see the energetic hunter chasing one of the creatures through a natural hot spring, his clothes and weapons completely soaked. I raised my eyebrows and glanced at the handler, who sighed and shook her head. 

“Maybe he won’t notice if we just keep walking” She muttered in exasperation. Her words didn’t sound barbed though. Mild annoyance rather than true disgust. At least, that was my best guess. I didn’t get many chances to observe other hunter/handler pairs interact, and I wasn’t great at reading people in general. 

The brave hunter of macaques spotted us and abandoned his difficult task, choosing instead to bound up to us. He did so without flinching, seemingly immune to the chill that comes from rapidly freezing water on soaked clothes. “Oh hey there! I thought you guys would have taken way longer, getting to know each other and all that.” 

I felt as if he was speaking only to the handler for some reason, despite his words seeming to be for the both of us. Odd.

“Maybe if I put it into words you will understand…” He continued while rolling his eyes, “You should compare notes on your hunting habits, so that you don’t get in each other’s way!” He looked strangely hopeful as he said this. I didn’t like the patronizing attitude, but what he said made good sense. 

“By the way, I’m sure you are wondering what I’m going to be doing while my amazing handler is busy looking after you.” The endlessly exuberant man wouldn’t stop talking. “Fancy a guess?” He grinned at me happily. 

I responded as quickly as I could. “No.”

“I’m going to be relaxing!” 

Ugh. 

“I’m going to take a nice vacation for a few days while you two do the dirty work - I’ve got it all planned out. I still haven’t gotten a chance to try out the spa at the gathering hub, and I intend to rectify that problem!” With that he took off running towards Seliana. His handler and I watched him run, trip, get up, wave at us, and then run again, finally rounding a corner and leaving our sight. 

After a while I spoke. “He is quite energetic.” 

“He is. He’s really not that bad a hunter when he needs to be… he’s just a bit unfocused.” She shook her head. “He was right though, we should compare notes. How can I help you best?”

I nodded, carefully thinking about what I most desired from a Handler. After a moment I knew. “Stay out of my way.” 

Her steps hesitated for a moment before she hurried to catch up to me. “I understand. I’ll do my best to keep from slowing you down.” She gazed off pensively. “As for me, I doubt I’ll need anything special from you… I’d like to go over current monster info with you before any hunts, but I understand if you aren’t interested.” Her tone had become businesslike and focused. “I will do my best to provide support where I can, but please tell me if anything is more trouble for you than it’s worth.”

“That’s fine”. I didn’t see how it could hurt, so if she wanted to do it, I didn’t see why not. Besides, there was always the off chance that it would actually be helpful. 

We continued walking, following the meandering tracks of the excitable hunter. The silence was good. 

\---

After arriving in Seliana, we took a transport to the main base in Astera. As soon as we got there we headed over to speak with the commander. 

He walked up to us with a greeting. “Thanks for coming on such short notice. As for why I called you back… Hold on, where’s the little gourmand?” He looked around idly while chuckling, “Still finishing off a few steaks at the canteen?”

I wished that was a bad guess, or that the commander was a little more bothered by his orders being ignored. 

The replacement for the “gourmand” stepped forward. “Actually, she’s engaged in another investigation at the moment. I’ll be supporting her partner for the time being.” She seemed pretty pleased with herself for some reason. Had something good happened to her recently? 

The commander nodded. “I see. Very well then, let me fill you in. There seems to be a new subspecies of Paolumu as well as other new monster subspecies wandering around nearby causing trouble. We think this is connected with the previous unexpected monster behavior that you have been central to investigating” He said while looking at me, referencing my time tracking down a rogue Legiana subspecies, “We think all this is likely due to some environmental change. So take down the Paolumu and report back any clues you come across.”

“Understood. Then my temporary partner here will hunt the subspecies while I provide support and compile detailed reports for analytics.” My temp handler nodded thoughtfully, pulling out a pen. She gave off the impression that it was her weapon of choice, and that she would be ready to take down any nearby reports waiting to ambush us, no matter how convoluted and tedious they might be. I smiled at the thought. 

“Very well. I’m counting on you two.” The commander waved and turned away, walking over to his map and piles of reports. 

As he walked away, the handler turned to me. “I guess this is our first job together.. I look forward to working with you, uh, temporary partner!” Her enthusiasm was less boisterous than my usual handler’s, but it was present all the same. 

I inclined my head in response. “I have things to prepare,” I told her. I had some parts that the smith might be able to make a new hammer out of, and some potions to make. 

The handler nodded pensively. “That will give me time to prepare my pre-hunt notes. Shall we meet at the canteen?”

“Will you not be cooking for me?” I asked curiously. It was the one helpful thing that my usual handler did with any consistency. 

“Oh!” Her face flushed bright red. “I could if you wanted, but I’m not great at it… I figured that you wouldn’t be interested since your handler is so good at cooking and all. You’d probably enjoy the chef’s food here more than anything I could pull together.”

I blinked in surprise from the outburst before shrugging. If she didn’t want to cook that was fine. We then parted ways as I walked up the ramp leading to the smith’s workshop.

Unfortunately, after some deliberation over the materials I had gathered, the smith informed me that he wouldn’t be able to make a significant upgrade to what I already had.. So I had him mend and reinforce my armor for the normal fee, and then took my leave.

As I left the workshop, I passed the Huntsman, clad in full armor and helmet as per usual, and dipped my head in deference to the man. I may be a great Hunter, but the man had been hunting since well before I joined the fleet, and his knowledge and experience were worthy of respect. A little too obsessed with a few specific topics, but we all have our eccentricities. He chuckled and clasped my shoulder. “I hear they are putting you to work once more,” His voice echoed through his helmet, “That always means something big is coming. And when something big comes well… Nergigante doesn’t feed on the little ones. Heh.” He patted my shoulder once, and then continued past. 

Probably not a concern while I was still hunting Pukei-Pukei, but a good thing to remember nonetheless. If the Huntsman ever warned about Nergigante, it was usually true. 

Pondering this, I headed across the rope bridge to the canteen, passing the incredibly poorly located lift system. Coming back to Astera only reminded me of how superior the design of Seliana was. 

When I reached the canteen, I saw that my replacement handler had already arrived, and was poring through notes amidst a massive pile of books. I quietly walked over, not wanting to disturb a co-worker, but her eyes flicked over to me and she jumped up energetically when I got close. 

“There you are!” She looked at me expectantly, “I’ve been waiting for this moment!” Her eyes gleamed with excitement, then she froze and gave a small cough. She took a breath, turning serious and businesslike as she continued, “Looks like our first mission together is taking care of the new subspecies. First, the Nightshade Paolomu. The report states: ‘First contact resulted in extreme drowsiness.’ Unfortunately that’s all the information we have, due to it being a new one. It’s our duty to fill in the gaps.” She turned to the table and picked up a small pouch of supplies. “From what little information we have, I suggest bringing flash pods to bring it out of the air, energy drinks to negate any soporific effects, and one of the standard traps to capture it with.” As she said this she handed me the pouch. 

I took the pouch in confusion. I usually only bothered specializing my gear unless I felt that the fight was going to be unusually hard, and my handler had never helped me prepare. She would give me the quest and let me do the hunting. “Hmm… Thanks”.

She saw my confusion and gave me a concerned look, “I hope I haven’t overstepped my bounds. My goal is to smooth your path as much as possible.”

I nodded in understanding, “Ah… This is helpful.” I stared at the pouch for a few moments more before stashing it away. 

“Odd that they wouldn’t give more information on the delivery method of the sleeping agent.” She muttered to herself as she looked through her notes once more. “Research notes miss such important details sometimes.” 

I hadn’t known that handlers were given preliminary research notes at all, so I didn’t have much to say on the matter. But researchers not doing their jobs properly? Well, I’d encountered a bit of that now and then. I shook my head and headed over to grab some food. 

\---

We headed out for the Wildspire Waste soon after I finished eating. When we arrived, the handler pulled out her notebook and began writing. I could hear her muttering quietly to herself as she did so. 

“The fifth fleet’s very best, our Sapphire Star, will take point, while I keep record.” Heh, it was nice being recognized for my accomplishments. Doubly so when the person doing it wasn’t trying to get a favor from me. 

She turned to me and smiled, “Let’s make the most of our little collaboration, partner.” 

I nodded and began jogging after the scout flies. I followed them across a small creek and came to a clearing. The scout flies paused there, so I looked to the sky and waited. Not long after, it arrived. A black and purple colored giant bat, the Nightshade Paolumu, dropped into sight, its enormous neck frill fully inflated. I crouched, wondering if I’d get a clue as to what dirty tricks it liked to use. 

The Nightshade was facing away from me, but I could see as it breathed out, spraying a strange gas towards the ground. When it hit it billowed from the point of contact, leaving a blue-green cloud sitting on the ground. All the animals inside the cloud staggered and collapsed on the ground. So that was its method. Interesting. 

Suddenly, the Nightshade spun, much faster than a normal Paolomu was capable of, and began spraying the gas all over the clearing. I tried to dive out of the way, but had been caught off guard with its speed. I was hit directly. I felt mostly unhurt, but moving felt so… difficult. Everything was just so hazy… tiring.... I felt like I had forgotten something, but I’d worry about it after I took a quick… nap.

I woke up with the serious eyes of the handler in front of me, as she held an energy drink to my lips with one hand, holding my head up with the other. “Back with us? That’s a relief. Now let’s continue the hunt.”

It was my turn to be embarrassed. She had gone to the trouble of preparing me energy drinks, and I had forgotten about them immediately. “Sorry. Forgot I had them.”

She started helping me up, and frowned at my words. “I can’t help you if you don’t use what I give you”

I considered arguing the technicality, but decided it wasn’t worth it. “Thank you.” 

She pursed her lips. “Uh huh. Go on, and actually drink one next time.” With that she gave a world-weary sigh, though there was a small smile on her lips. 

I grimaced in embarrassment as I headed off once more, determined to put her help to good use from now on. It would be unbearable if she was ever under the impression that I was as much of a problem as her official partner. 

The Nightshade wasn’t too far off, and so it wasn’t long before I was once again creeping up on it. It was eating a small creature it had caught in its sleeping cloud. I waited for a good moment, then charged, pulling out my hammer as I did so, and gave its head a strong thwack. It roared, staggering me, but I had expected it, and collected myself, ducking out of the way as its tough and ridged tail swept past me. I realized that if I used a bladed weapon I might have had to worry about getting it stuck in those ridges, and chuckled to myself. Hammers truly were the best. 

The beast breathed in, and I immediately rolled, avoiding the blast of blue-green gas with plenty of room to spare. I’d already made one foolish mistake this fight, and had no intention of sullying my reputation further. This handler had come expecting the best, and I fully intended to show her what that looked like. It was only fair.

The monster spun wildly through the air, spewing its gas everywhere. I managed to keep one step ahead of the bursts, but there was less and less safe ground to walk on. I fired my clutch claw, pulling myself onto its neck. I gave its head a good slash to aim it at a rock wall, and then hit it with a stagger shot, sending it flying directly into the wall. 

I was flung back, but managed a perfect landing… in the center of one of the smoke clouds. Fog filled my mind once more, but this time I managed to grab an energy drink before collapsing. Clarity came with the bitter taste, and I rushed over to the beast to get a hit in. Unfortunately drinking the potion had taken a few precious seconds, so I was only able to land a single blow before it was once more in the air. It flew off, and I followed, annoyed that it would leave after a couple of blows. 

I tracked it to a couple more locations, but each time it flew off before I was able to attack it. Finally, I saw that it was headed back to the clearing where I had first spotted it. I took a shortcut, and arrived to see the temporary handler confused and looking for something. At that moment the Nightshade dropped from the sky on the opposite side of the clearing from the handler. I stood near the middle, watching as their eyes met. 

The Nightshade dove forward, and I charged. I leapt in front of it, taking a blow from its neck frill. It was an odd sensation, being bludgeoned with the world’s softest pillow. I bounced a few times from the blow, and as I rolled, glimpses of my temporary handler revealed that she had already moved well behind cover. As I got up, I concluded that she must have actually dodged in time, making my dive in front of her entirely unnecessary. Huh.

The Nightshade looked like it was gonna gas the clearing again, so I threw a flash pod at its face, blinding it and causing it to fall to the ground. I lay into the beast, brutally slamming my hammer into its head repeatedly. When it recovered it was up in the air again, and this time it looked pissed. 

It began spewing constant jets of the sleep gas, and it spewed it everywhere. I dodged as much as I could, but there was so freaking much. I would dodge away from one cloud only to land in another, so I’d get out an energy drink. I’d run around a clump of the gas, only for the Nightshade to suck in just a little bit, pulling the gas right to me. I’d clutch-claw to the beast, only for it to spin right into a cloud, knocking me off and forcing me to drink yet another dose. I’d get in a few blows here and there, but the going was frustratingly slow, and I was running out of energy drinks. 

I found the beast sleeping in a corner of the forest surrounded by poison cups. Between me and it was a slick muddy incline, leading directly to it. My eyes lit up in greed as I pulled out my hammer, preparing a powerful strike as I walked to the start of the incline. 

I began sliding, and crouched as I picked up speed, accelerating quickly towards the monster. At the last second I leapt into the air with a mighty overhead swing, landing a brutal blow on the Nightshade and placing me squarely on the creature’s back. I held on tightly as it tried to fling me off. When it paused, I would pull out my hunting knife and cut into it. It screamed in pain, but I only buried my face in its surprisingly sound dampening and extremely soft fur, while continuing to stab. It tried to knock me off by slamming its back against a wall, but I managed to move to its head in time, meaning that it only managed to hurt itself. Finally it stopped, exhausted, and I pulled out my hammer once more. I slammed the hammer into its head, knocking it over. 

I leapt off its head, cutting open a poison cup as I landed. The purple ooze spread quickly over the downed animal, and I had to dodge aside myself to avoid getting it on me. I then ran back to its head to lay down a few more blows. 

Luck was with me now though, for those blows were enough to stun the winded creature, meaning that I had even more time to brutalize its head. I could feel how close I was to killing the creature, when I heard a cry. 

“Look out!” 

Huh? I turned to the handler, assuming she needed help, but when I spotted her I saw that she was pointing to the… The large Rathalos bearing down on me. That was new. 

In my confused state the Rathalos had no difficulty hitting me with a blast of fire. On the up side, that managed to clear my head a bit. On the down side, I was now on fire. I dodged so that the Nightshade was between me and the Rathalos, and then rolled on the ground to put myself out. Unfortunately for me, the Nightshade seemed completely cowed by the Rathalos, and had no interest in fighting it, choosing instead to dodge attacks using its absurd deflating balloon method. Once the Nightshade was no longer providing cover, I had to dodge a few talon strikes and fireballs while preparing my next move. 

Luckily I had some dung pods, and managed to convince the rathalos that nothing was going to taste good for the next few hours. It left while screeching in rage at the foulness in its mouth.

With the bigger threat gone, I turned to the Nightshade once more. It tried to hit me with a sleep cloud, but I fired a flash pod in its face, causing it to fall to the ground once more. As it flailed around blindly, I set up a shock trap and stood near it, tranq bombs in hand. It stumbled forward, activating the trap, and I dumped a whole bunch of tranqs on his head, resulting in a peacefully captured Nightshade. I waved to the handler to indicate a complete mission, and she walked over, carefully avoiding the pooled poison. 

“Congratulations Sapphire Star! Your skills truly are impressive.” She beamed in excitement, closely examining the Nightshade as I carved a few pieces from it. . 

I started to speak, but hesitated for a moment. “‘Temporary Handler’ is no good. What’s your name?” My words felt awkward and brutish as I spoke them, but I pushed forward anyway. 

She stood up sharply and whirled to face me with a broad grin “Oh! My name is Sophia.” 

I nodded thoughtfully and continued, “Sophia… Thanks for your help. I’ll use it better going forward.” Twice I had failed to utilize her help. I needed to pay better attention. 

“Oh don’t worry, it takes a bit to get used to a new partner!” Sophia's sincere smile twisted into the hint of a smirk as she continued, “Plus it’s nice to see even the Sapphire Star makes mistakes now and then.” 

The price of a reputation. 

“But speaking of your title, would you mind telling me your name as well? It seems only fair.” Her expression was like a kid trying to get away with something. 

I nodded and stood up from my carving, putting my hand on my little palico’s head. “My name is Raed, and my palico’s name is Dog.” My expression was grim and formal. 

She nodded and smiled. “Raed!” I liked hearing my name in her voice. “Raed and… wait. Your palico… really?” She blinked with uncertainty, clearly thrown off by that revelation. Dog turned his gaze up at her and nodded brightly, his whiskers twitching happily. 

“Yes.” I struggled to keep a straight face, but couldn’t quite manage it, and it broke into a broad grin. Dog meowed in appreciation

She gave me a look of confusion mixed with amusement, finally breaking down and laughing. I continued grinning. I was very proud of that name. 

Soon after, the recovery team arrived to pick up the captured beast, and Sophia and I headed back to Astera. During the trip I brought up something that had been on my mind for a while. 

“Why were you alone at the clearing?” I asked. I expected that kind of thing from my regular handler, but it didn’t match up with Sophia. 

Sophia blushed. “Um… well Raed, to be honest I was looking for you,” she chuckled nervously and continued, “I’ve gotten a little too used to a hunter who… gets distracted and chases bugs for half an hour every now and then.” She adjusted her green headband mournfully. “I looked down at my notes for a few moments and then you were gone.”

I nodded my head in empathy, but internally I felt some satisfaction that I wasn’t the only one thrown off by the new partnership. “We can both improve”. 

Sophia looked up at me with uncertainty, but when her eyes met mine she relaxed and nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

We finished the journey back to Astera with the only sounds being the scratches of her pen and the meows of Dog as I pet him. When we arrived, I bid Sophia a good evening, and she went off to report our mission. I went with Dog to our home, entering and immediately walking over and falling backwards onto my luxurious bed. The fire, prepared by the housekeeper, crackled in the fireplace, and gentle music wafted through the air, played by a palico musician somewhere nearby. I should have taken my boots off, but I really didn’t feel like moving. This room was the one thing from Astera I had been missing - everything was so comfortable here compared to my larger but relatively sparse living space in Seliana. 

It had been a good hunt. Messy, but fun. And the temporary handler... Sophia I corrected myself... had been an excellent partner. I’d have to rethink my methods to fully incorporate her skills. Dog jumped onto my bed and lay on my stomach, and as I stroked his back the room faded to black.


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up with the first light of morning groggy, smelly, and sore. I had barely removed any of my equipment before going comatose, and my boots were still on. Grumbling curses I stripped down and stepped out to my personal pool. My home was nestled into an alcove overlooking the mountain peaks on one side and the shoreline on the other, and the pool sat in a location giving an excellent view of both. I dove in, allowing the cool, crystal clear water to rejuvenate me. For all the mistakes that the Research Commission made, they knew how to house their hunters properly. 

I wiped off the dirt, blood, and guts from my body, checking for any unhealed wounds as I did so. As I watched the grime float away on the water I realized that the housekeeper palico was going to have their work cut out for them when it came to cleaning off my bed. I grimaced and hoped that after this much time working with hunters they would be understanding. 

I got out of the pool, dried myself off, and put on new clothes. Stepping outside, I sat near the pool, my face to the rising sun. I emptied my mind of thoughts, controlling my breathing and letting my heart rate drop. Slowly my muscles relaxed, and I felt the tension of the fight from the day before slowly leave my body. In, out. In out. Allow the blood to flow to my brain, to sooth the aches in my body. 

As the fog of sleep fell from my mind, I began organizing my jumbled thoughts, allowing them to flow naturally. Over the next few missions I would be going up against several new monster breeds. Normally I’d go in blind, trusting my fighting skills and instincts to keep me safe. But if I had a competent handler helping… With Sophia’s help I would have a much easier time of things. No time would be lost rescuing my handler, and if pre-hunt prep was always as useful as it was last hunt, I would notice a significant decrease in hunt difficulty. It would be best to speak with her about the content of her warnings though. “Watch out” was too vague to be very useful. 

Mentally prepared for the day, I stood up and began going through my daily checklist. Dog, ever the useful companion, had cleaned my armor and placed it beside me. I picked it up and strapped it on carefully, checking that each joint was connected properly. Next, I went inside. My equipment stood on a stand, ready for me to take it. I did so, buckling on my weapon and gear tightly. Finally ready to face the day, I walked out the front door and into the madness of Astera.

I meandered through the vendors and piles of supplies, keeping an eye out for anything I was lacking, but not expecting to see anything. At this point I had gathered practically anything I was likely to find at a vendor in astera. I was instead headed over to the cultivator to check on my crops. I may have had some of everything that Astera could provide, but there were some ingredients that I could always use more of. 

I was raising some beehives, flashbugs, and thunderbugs at the time, and their buzzing was audible as I approached. The chief botanist was sitting at a table piled high with books. Sophia was no doubt working with a similar setup somewhere in town, preparing for our next hunt together. Chuckling, I tapped the botanist on the shoulder. 

“I need some summoner jelly,” I informed the scientist. Bugs loved the stuff, and bees produced way more honey when given a supply. As a nice side bonus I got to enjoy watching the bees and beetles swarm around their food. The flurry of little lives was calming to watch. 

“Ah!” The botanist started, snapping his book shut abruptly. “I didn’t see you there Sapphire Star, my apologies. What was it? Summoner jelly? Yes yes, right away.” He stood and walked to a basket filled with glass jars. “Shall I deduct it from your credit? I don’t really know why we even bother tracking it for you, but rules are rules…”

As he asked he looked up and I nodded. I secretly took great pleasure in seeing my research credits go up, even knowing that there was no way that I could possibly use them up. I’d barely touch the account even if I did nothing but eat for the rest of my life. Having that numeric indication of the amount I had helped the Commission was quite satisfying. 

The botanist walked over with a few jars of the jelly, which I took from him. I then headed over to my little bug filled plot, and began scooping it into place, so that my bees and beetles would have full access to it without it spilling and getting everywhere. I had always liked bees. I dipped a finger in the jelly and pulled it out to let a bee collect it from my hand. A few beetles flew in as well, but I nudged them away. The bee industriously scraped away at the jelly before flying back to the hive, leaving my finger practically clean. Thorough, clever, and hard working. I wished more people were like that. 

After taking care of my bugs, I stood up and headed out, returning a wave when the chief botanist wished me well. I was considering what to do next when I saw Sophia walking up. 

“Ah, there you are Sapph - I mean Raed!” She stumbled over her greeting but continued,”Are you well rested and ready for a new mission?” Her brown eyes sparkled in the morning sun as she looked up at me. “I’ve been looking through your requests and it seems like you have plenty to choose from,” as she said this she stood beside me, allowing me to look over her shoulder as she pulled out a large bundle of requests and flipped through them randomly.

I grumbled, “There’s always more.” There was no system of prioritization here. If anyone wanted anything done, they requested a hunter to do it. Me being the best known hunter, I got the most requests. Even if the person only wanted, for example, “A bunch of butterbur. Hmm.” I shot an unimpressed look at my replacement handler. 

Sophia rolled her eyes. “Maybe we won’t do that one unless we need to take a bit of a breather. There are some interesting missions in there, don’t worry. There’s also the main assignment that needs finishing.”

“Ugh.” I was going to have to get around to all of these at some point, but I’d put it off for now. “Primary mission for now.” New subspecies could be fun, and were bound to be more interesting than picking plants all day. Why was that even a thing they had hunters do? That was what the researchers were for.

Sophia put the requests aside and pulled out her notebook. After opening it and holding it with one hand, she tapped her lips thoughtfully with her finger. “This monster has been named the Coral subspecies of the Pukei-Pukei family. It seems to be a water-based variant - according to the report, it shot a powerful jet of water at anyone it noticed, and was able to do so from a significant range. So probably fast bursts of water that will soak your clothes and slow you down. On the plus side you won’t have to deal with the poison that comes as part of the package for the common Pukei-Pukei.” She turned the page of the report curiously, but sighed and returned to the previous page. “Aside from it being spotted in the Coral Highlands, that’s all the useful information I have currently, but I’ll try to help any way I can once I can get a good look at it.”

“Understood”. Time to prep. I looked down at Dog, who knowingly patted his plunderblade and potion pouches to indicate his readiness. Somehow he was always ready before me and I had no idea how he managed it. I’d never seen a palico run out of healing potions either. Cats work in mysterious ways. 

I shook my head, focusing on the mission. I turned and began heading towards my supply chest when Sophia coughed, and I looked back to her. 

“Meet at the canteen again when we are both ready?” She had her notebook stowed away under her arm alongside the requests, and her eyes met mine as she asked the question.

Something about the intensity of her look made me pause for a moment before responding. “Alright,” I said, wondering what she was thinking. I matched her gaze with a questioning expression for a moment before I turned away once more, and felt a smile play across my face. I liked her eyes, even if I didn’t always understand her. She had the fire of a hunter. 

I went to my chest and grabbed my standard supplies and gear. I thought about it a bit, then decided to bring my glider mantle. Once fully outfitted, I headed up to the canteen. Sophia was already there, standing by the counter and talking to the Meowscular Chef. The scarred palico was quite animated, and the contrast between his broad, energetic gestures and Sophia’s gentle smile made me chuckle. I stepped forward and she quickly turned her head to me, raising her hand in greeting as I joined her.

“I was just about to order a meal for myself, but I’m having trouble deciding. Feel free to go ahead of me.” As she spoke she gestured for me to order. 

I took her up on the offer and nodded to Chef as I approached the counter. “Whatever’s fast”.

Sophia smiled and added, “I’ll have whatever you make for him as well”. 

The muscular cat raised an eyebrow at me with his arms crossed and shook his head condescendingly. Raising one claw to tell me to wait, he turned his back to us and yowled at his assistants, the muscles on his shoulders bulging as he did so. The palicos promptly began scampering around preparing food, and Chef faced us once more. He gave us an incredibly proud and fierce look. Somehow, despite not understanding his language, I could tell he was preparing a real meal, not some halfhearted dish done as quickly as possible. After glaring at me for a bit, his stern expression broke into a smile before heading off to do his share of the cooking process. His behavior was eerily reminiscent of the Admiral’s. An odd artifact of any long-term partnership between palico and hunter was that the longer the partnership, the more resemblance there seemed to be. 

A little later, the two completed dishes were placed on the counter with the grand flourishes standard here, and Sophia and I sat down together. Kulu-Ya-Ku breast surrounded by potatoes and squash, onions and mushrooms, all in a delicious steaming pile. I tore into the food, but when I glanced up I noticed she hadn’t started yet, and was looking at me pensively. When our eyes met she averted her eyes and immediately took a large bite of food. I wasn’t sure what was up with that, but I didn’t say anything. The food was excellent, though admittedly not as good as my usual handler could make. For all her faults that woman was an amazing chef. 

As we ate I would occasionally flick my eyes over at Sophia. She was doing her best to eat in a refined way, but Chef’s portions didn’t lend much assistance in that endeavour. I admit I found her struggles amusing, but I did my best to show no sign of it on my face. As I watched her I wondered if she was really as bad of a cook as she claimed, or if there was some other reason she would prefer not to cook for me. She seemed so competent at everything else, it was hard to believe that she wouldn’t be skilled at cooking. On the other hand, I was a top tier hunter and I could never seem to roast my steaks properly. Either too rare or burnt every single time. 

We finished our meal, thanking Chef as we got up. He meowed in satisfaction, a sense of smug superiority made visible with every twitch of his furry ears. I gave him a small salute. I may have been the current star, but it was always good to remember the veterans who first blazed the trail. 

I looked to Sophia questioningly, and she nodded. Time to go. 

\---

We arrived in the Coral Highlands without incident. I grabbed a few potions from the camp there, but I liked travelling light in the highlands. The powerful wind currents there made it possible to move rapidly through certain areas if you knew the trick to it, and the more weight I had on me the harder it would be to use those currents. There was also the whole getting soaked with water thing that I wasn’t looking forward to, and trying to keep a trap from getting wet didn’t seem worth it at all. 

While capable of flight, Pukei-Pukei were bulky enough that they preferred to walk. With that in mind I decided to start my search looking through the lower coral growths rather than the peaks. That meant I’d almost certainly be dealing with one of those asshole Tzitzi-Ya-Ku, but if I was careful I might be able to use it in the fight. 

I headed out from the main camp and explored around for a bit. As I passed through I noticed a few of the deer-like kelbi. Their horns were useful for potions, so I made a quick detour, knocking them from the kelbi with a few measured blows. The kelbi would probably have headaches for the next few days, but they should be grateful that they got to live. The irritating vespoid wasps that lived in the forest and the Rotten Vale weren’t so lucky. A swift execution was the best they could hope for from me. After gathering half a dozen horns, I decided to move on. 

To my complete and utter lack of shock, I stumbled across Tzitzi tracks almost immediately. There were some things you could always rely on. Near those prints however, I spotted Coral Pukei-Pukei tracks as well, proving my hunch correct. These things could fly, but they would generally rather not bother having to lift their fat bodies into the air. I jogged down the trail, the feathers and claw prints scattered on the ground confirming that I was headed in the correct direction. 

I found the water-loving Pukei in a clearing, rubbing its back against a tree just a few feet from a low ledge. Perfect. I took my time making my way to the ledge, taking each step with care to avoid making a sound or showing myself to the monster.

As I snuck around it, I examined my prey. It was much more brightly colored than its more common cousin. It had a yellow head and shoulders, and a purple body and wing-flaps. Aside from that, it didn’t have much in the way of noticeable differences from the common variant, though its large tail looked oddly deflated. 

Once I got in position, I readied my hammer and leapt from the ledge, giving the Pukei a hefty smack on the head. It responded by screaming loud enough to make me freeze, and then.... immediately took off and flew away. Great, it was going to be one of those. 

I followed it as it soared through the sky, but due to its bulk it had to come down fairly soon. This time I was ready for its tricks. I activated my glider mantle and charged forward, using the clutch claw to pull me to the Pukei. Once I was on it’s side the monster tried to buck me off, but instead of struggling to hold on, I let the wind catch my mantle and lift me up. When there’s no ledge to jump from, make your own vantage point. Thanks to the air currents, I was swept a few feet above the Pukei, and when I was directly centered over its back, I deactivated the device and swung down with my hammer. I dropped like a rock onto its back, and was able to get an excellent grip for mounting. It wasn’t flying away from me so easily this time. 

Out came the carving knife as I tried to weaken its armor. It struggled to be rid of me, but I slid gracefully with its jerky movement, evading any and all attempts to strike me. If he thought a mere Pukei-Pukei could successfully unseat me he was sadly mistaken. 

It wasn’t long before it was out of breath and it was time to make my move. I readied my hammer and swung down hard, knocking the beast off of its feet and jumping gracefully to the ground.. Bam, thud, swing! I beat its head around for a bit before it got up. 

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sophia standing on a chunk of coral pointing at something. I rolled behind some cover in response. It was probab-

FLASH

The blinding light of a Tzitzi-Ya-Ku’s signature ability filled the clearing. The outcropping of coral I had ducked behind blocked the worst of it, thanks to Sophia’s timely warning, but I was still blinded for a moment. As I rubbed the stars from my eyes, I saw the lanky bipedal wyvern running off, no doubt cackling to itself over a dastardly plan successfully accomplished. Even more annoying, I saw no sign of the Coral Pukei-Pukei. It must have seen its chance to run once more and taken it. This was ridiculous. I hadn’t even seen it use its water jets a single time, but I had to track this beast down yet again. 

I found it once more, this time in a coral cave. Its head was fully submerged in a pool, and I could hear it gulping greedily. Its tail inflated as it drank, filling like a balloon. Made enough sense I supposed - if it had a habit of spraying enemies with water, it would have to have some way to store and replenish said water. I was about to charge in to attack it, when I heard human footsteps behind me. I looked over in confusion to see Sophia’s usual partner, the rather excitable hunter walking up to me. He grinned broadly, firing off a quick salute as he sidled up next to me. 

“Heya buddy!” He whispered, crouching beside me and checking out the Pukei. “Man that thing’s feathers are gorgeous. I wanna ruffle ‘em up a bit!” He turned to me conspiratorially, “How about a little cooperative hunting?” He nudged me with his elbow as he asked. “It’ll be great, I promise!”

“Why are you here?” I had been under the impression that he was still in Seliana relaxing and partying. 

“The spa was nice but I got bored, and I wanted to check on my precious handler. Keep up with all the recent developments, if you know what I mean…” He continued with a knowing smile and a wink, “Don’t worry, I’m rooting for the both of you!” He chuckled to himself. 

“Are you going to help?” I didn’t understand why he thought this was a good time to chat. With my reminder though, he heaved a sigh and stood up, drawing his sword and shield. 

“I’ll soften her up, you can join in once she’s weak. Haha, let’s go!” With those words he charged in, swinging wildly at the monster’s unguarded neck. For all his failures at stealth or focus, it was clear that he knew what he was doing with his weapon, flowing from strike to strike with remarkable grace. 

It reared back, and I finally got to see the water jets firsthand. With pinpoint accuracy it hit the excitable man with a blast of water, knocking him backwards and utterly soaking him with blighted water. Without hesitation he pulled a nullberry from his pouch and popped it into his mouth, cleansing the magical exhaustion that came with the blight. He stood up, this time just barely managing to dodge another blast of water. He smirked confidently back at me, but then the stream split in two, the streams sweeping horizontally in opposite directions. He was hit before he could react, once more getting knocked on his ass and soaked. 

I saw Sophia arriving and carefully taking cover once she saw the monster. I decided that was a good enough cue as any, since I had endured enough watching the other hunter get his ass kicked. 

I stood up and moved in quickly as he popped another nullberry into his mouth. The Coral Pukei-Pukei spat a large ball of water at me, but I dodged easily. It paused for a moment and I rushed in, but unfortunately I moved a little too slow to land a good hit. It lifted in the air, not to leave this time but to fight. Its tail began firing a stream of water, and the monster waved the tail around seemingly randomly. The high pressure water blast swung wildly around it, making it almost impossible to dodge. 

“Duck!” I heard Sophia’s voice cry out, and immediately saw the other hunter drop to the ground, seemingly reacting to her voice on instinct. I did the same soon after, and a jet of water passed over both of our heads a mere moment later. The Pukei finished its attack. looked towards Sophia’s shout, and began flying over to her. 

A glance between the other hunter and myself was all the communication necessary. He threw a flash pod at the monster to blind it, and I clutch clawed at it, knocking it off course. It flailed wildly, striking the man in the chest and sending him tumbling away, but I managed to drop from its head without injury. I continued whaling on the beast, but the normally peppy hunter seemed to be pretty dazed. 

The monster spun, knocking me back, and flapped into the air, spitting a ball of water directly at my thoroughly beaten ally before flying off, leaving Sophia and I with the soaked and bruised hunter. I watched the creature fly up the cliffs with annoyance.

“You weren’t very helpful, Mr. Excitable.” I’d gotten the chance to see what getting hit would look like, but that was about it. 

Sophia was bandaging up the other hunter, who gave a sheepish grin when he heard my nickname for him. “Sorry man, I’m thinking I might have let myself get too relaxed from my vacation. But it seems like you have this handled just fine, so I’ll take off from here!” About the most I could expect of him. 

I shook my head and looked for a good outcropping of coral. The air currents were strong enough here that with my glider mantle… after a bit of searching and testing I found a good spot. I stepped off out of the protective coral enclosure and into the whirlwind, activating my glider mantle as I did so. It billowed out, catching the wind and rocketing me up into the air. I turned and saw Sophia standing next to the bruised hunter, shouting something and reaching out her hand at me with futility as I rapidly rose out of view.

I realized that she might not have had a glider mantle herself. Something to remember for the future. With my usual handler, making her climb the long way meant more time that she was too busy to get into trouble, but in this case it only hurt me. I may have gotten into some bad habits. 

I rode the currents confidently and easily. Thanks to my light load, I could dance on the wind, aiming myself to exactly where I wanted, avoiding eddies of wind with hardly a twitch of my mantle. I rocketed over the landscape, and soon was gliding down to the place the Pukei had been headed. And there it was, sleeping off the tiredness it had worked up by flying all the way here in the first place. 

I floated above its peaceful head, then swung my hammer down hard, resuming the battle.

By this point the beast was tired, injured, and in a location it wasn’t familiar with. It didn’t try to run again as I slowly whittled down its life to nothing. It got a few hits in, but nothing serious. I would chain a few heavy blows, then duck behind cover while it blasted water at me. I’d wait until it stopped, then repeat the process. Finally I wore it down, ending the fight with a blow to its head that was accompanied by a fulfilling crunch. The monster slain, I began carving pieces off of it. 

At around that time Sophia arrived, panting from the exertion of climbing up the series of cliffs to my location. “Well done Raed. Whew! You took care of that thing remarkably well.” Her panting slowed, and she brushed her short brown hair out of her eyes. “You sure are hard to keep up with sometimes,” She gave a large smile, easing the sting of her complaint. 

“Ah. Sorry.” More words weren’t necessary. Future actions would prove my resolve. 

I sent up a flare for the gathering team, and she sat down on a rock looking over the cliff. Dog walked over to her and she scratched under his chin gently.

Once she had fully caught her breath, she stood up and approached me, her eyes gleaming with interest. “So... you can use the glider mantle to fly through the air? I’ve heard that was possible but I’ve never seen it done before… well, not without immediately crashing at least.” I could well imagine the catastrophic results of her usual partner trying his hand at the mantle. “Could you explain to me how to do it?” As she made her request, she was already scribbling away at her notebook. 

I tried to come up with an explanation before shaking my head in annoyance. I was a Monster Hunter, not a People Talker. “I think showing is better.” With that I stepped forward and wrapped my arm around her waist. She gave a small squeak of surprise, but I picked her up anyway. She looked at me with alarm and confusion, and I stepped off the cliff. 

Instantly she was holding on to me with an iron grip. I was glad of that, since it meant that I wouldn’t have to worry about her falling off, and could instead focus on riding the current. For all my bravado, carrying an extra person made it a lot more challenging of a task, though not an impossible one. My mantle flared out, catching the powerful gusts of wind and pushing us rapidly, though not as rapidly as I was used to. A large piece of coral was in our way and I changed our course with a twist of my shoulder, just barely managing to avoid it in time. 

I’m pretty sure Sophia said something at that point, but with the wind in my ears, I didn’t hear a word. Instead of trying to figure it out, I held her waist tight with one arm and continued to guide us through the wind and coral branches. After a little longer I was beginning to get used to the new balance and weight, though the sluggish steering seemed unavoidable. Finally I saw a gap in the coral and zipped through, landing with a small stumble in a clearing, and letting Sophia go. I immediately checked to see if my lesson had been useful. 

“Got it?”

Sophia’s face was flushed, she was breathing fast, and her eyes were as big as dinner plates. “I… I wasn’t able to focus as much as I would have liked,” She hesitated a moment, then continued, “Perhaps you could show me again at some point, with a little more warning perhaps?”

I looked over at the gap we had come in from and flicked my thumb at it while giving her a questioning look. She paled just a bit and stepped back. “No not now! Later, definitely later!” 

Her desire to fly seemed more than sated for the moment, so I shrugged and began walking back to the camp. “Where’s Excitable?” I asked over my shoulder.

Sophia jogged up to come even with me, then walked alongside me. “He headed back, said he would need more spa time to heal the new bruises. Don’t worry about him, he will be fine.” She shook her head in bemusement. “He really is a good hunter… sometimes.”

I considered this. “He handles his weapon well,” I confirmed. 

“But perhaps it’s unfair to compare him to you.”

That earned a snort from me. “Perhaps”. As we walked to the camp, my mind returned to the flight we had just made. It had felt nice holding her like that. 

She was writing in her notebook, though not with the same confidence I had seen previously. Every time my eyes wandered over to her, she would be hesitating or scratching out a line. Eventually she napped the notebook shut with a sigh. As she did so our eyes met, and her cheeks reddened. 

“I’ll finish my notes later,” she stated firmly, answering my unasked question. The redness of her cheeks intensified. It was a good look for her. 

I dipped my head in understanding. Perhaps something was bothering her. Hopefully it wouldn’t impact future missions. 

We eventually arrived at the camp, breaking my reverie. Dog arrived a few minutes later, annoyed that I had abandoned him. A few treats and some petting resolved that issue, and our transport arrived soon after, taking us back to Astera, and when we arrived, we bid each other good evening and retired to our respective homes. Another successfully completed mission.


	4. Chapter 4

I followed my normal schedule that morning - bathe, meditate, get dressed. However, my armor was missing. After ransacking my entire home, I finally found it neatly placed between my mattress and the bedframe. I looked to Dog, who gave me an incredibly smug grin. Apparently he had not completely forgiven me for abandoning him at the top of the cliff the day before. “I apologized,” I sighed. Luckily he hadn’t completely abandoned his professionalism, for the armor was perfectly clean and polished as always. 

Dog rolled his eyes good-naturedly and meowed, pushing his head against my hand for pats. I complied. He was a good assistant, and I really had screwed up in leaving him behind. I had done the same to Sophia as well…

Leaving behind dead weight was fine, but leaving behind a faithful helper was a poor move. Doing so was its own form of unreliability, and I refused to be the weak link. 

I left my home while pondering this, and when I entered Astera proper I was still deep in thought. Because of this I was caught by surprise when I heard Sophia’s voice behind me. 

“Raed! There’s something I need to talk to you about…” She hesitated as I pivoted to face her. I looked her in her brown eyes, picking up on nervousness, but also something more serious. She didn’t just want to chat. 

“Is there a problem?” I thought back to the previous hunts, wondering if my behaviour hadn’t been up to her standards. 

“I think it might be good to have some privacy for this conversation. Do you know of any more secluded spots nearby?”

This only served to increase my curiosity, and I tilted my head as an affirmative. There was a nice mountain trail near my home. I began walking there, gesturing for her to follow me. Dog looked at me questioningly, so I shrugged and waved for him to follow. 

We left the town, walking quietly together up the mountainside. It would have been a relaxing stroll if I wasn’t so curious about what had managed to bother Sophia so much. 

Once we had left the hubbub behind, I stopped walking and turned my head pensively to Sophia. “So?”

“Right,” She turned to me and began pulling out a few notebooks, which I recognized as my usual Handler’s work. “I’ve been looking through these to make sure that I’m not failing to live up to your expectations in any way, but I noticed a concerning trend.” As she said this she opened up one of the notebooks and showed it to me. “These notes… they put an unusually large amount of focus on the edible ingredients near the hunts.” 

I took the notebook and looked. “That sounds like her,” I didn’t quite understand why this was such a concerning thing. It was a report on a Rathian I had slain some time ago. I remembered having to push my handler into a stream multiple times to keep her from being set on fire during that hunt.

The report was about as long as I usually saw from my handler, nothing seeming out of the ordinary. First it detailed the tracking. It went over the various flora and fauna of the region, going into great detail about which were edible, which were poisonous, and which recipes they worked best in. It went on to describe the best methods for preparing and storing the different ingredients, and during which times they could most easily be found. The amount of each ingredient gathered that day was listed, as was the quality of each harvest.

Wait a minute...

I scanned through the rest of the report, and my suspicions were confirmed. Almost no hunting information about the monster was written down at all. Nothing about weaknesses or behavior, no targets to focus or optimal weapon types. It was all about food. The name and rough sketch of the creature were the only things that indicated what the report was supposed to contain. And even there one of the wings had detailed instructions on making rathian tail soup written on it. 

I looked up to Sophia. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her body was bristling with anger. “I didn’t realize it was this bad.” I closed the notebook and stared at it thoughtfully. “The commission accepted this?”

“I suspect they may not read all the reports as thoroughly as they claim,” Sophia muttered. “These notes are supposed to help keep you and other hunters safe. And she instead filled them with recipes.” Her voice remained quiet, but had a hard edge to it. 

I waited silently, uncertain about how to respond. “Is that a problem for you?” I finally queried. I was completely lost when it came to discussions like this. I’d be happy as long as I didn’t make things worse. 

“Oh don’t worry about me,” She breathed in deeply, let out a huff, then looked up as her expression lost its edge. As she did so, I had the honor of receiving a broad smile directed at me. “I’ll be fine. And I’ll make sure that future notes are much higher quality.” She shook her head wearily as she faced north and looked off into the distance. I barely caught her next words, “Some people might be getting a bit of a wakeup call when they return though…”

The hint of a smile crossed my face. Seeing her being so protective of the hunters was a pleasant experience. Her dedication to quality, to duty, and to the safety of our people was quite an appealing character trait. It reminded me a little of the Huntsman. If this was what handlers were supposed to be like, I was beginning to understand why it was standard to have them. I pondered a moment, then said the only thing that seemed appropriate, “Thank you.”

She blinked in surprise, and her expression changed to one of modesty, and a little embarrassment. “This is my job. Doing anything less would be unthinkable.” 

I turned my head away so that she wouldn’t see my smile. This side of Sophia was soothing scars I had never before realized I bore. Every new day seemed to show another reason to appreciate her. I looked to the north, towards the Hoarfrost reach, where my handler and the Tracker were still exploring. I had a sudden desire that whatever those two were doing would take at least a little while longer.

“That’s all I needed to tell you… I guess we can return to town now.” Now that she had said what she came to say, Sophia looked uncomfortable, perhaps uncertain as to the best way to continue. 

I frowned in disagreement. “We are already here. It’s a good trail.” I nodded my head further up the mountain, “Might as well finish it”. For some reason I didn’t want to go back to town just then. 

I received a look of mild surprise for my words. “Ah well, if you say so… Sure. That sounds nice actually.” Sophia visibly relaxed and gave me a soft smile. 

So we resumed walking up the mountain trail, surrounded by the vibrant and dense forest. We didn’t speak a word as we naturally fell back to our training, our carefully placed steps barely leaving a trail as we listened to the sounds of the wilderness. Dog walked a bit off the trail, sniffing and pausing to listen every so often. Perhaps our vigilance was unnecessary so near Astera, but habits so deeply ingrained in body and mind can’t just be switched off. My trained senses just couldn’t avoid spotting every insect flying from flower to flower, hearing every bird’s song on the wind, and smelling the scents of a healthy forest. 

Despite my constant watchfulness, I found wandering this trail rejuvenating. As much as I liked hunting, the perpetual feeling of danger could be exhausting. Here though, I could enjoy my senses instead of merely surviving with them. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, enjoying the presence of the forest, before breathing out and opening my eyes. I even waited a couple of seconds before scanning my surroundings once more

Sophia was looking at me with a quizzical look on her face, and when I met her gaze she broke the silence. “You seem very different out here,” she noted. “Less intense.”

“I’m still focused,” I assured her quickly. While I was fairly certain that there were no threats nearby, I would still be ready to act if the need arose. 

She laughed sweetly, “I’m not worried Raed… It’s good that you can relax. It makes it easier for me to relax too.” As she said this our shoulders gently brushed against each other, and I realized how close together we were walking. 

I wouldn’t really call a hike up a mountain relaxing, but I was enjoying the walk and she seemed happy, so I decided not to gainsay her. A soft silence filled the forest once more, only punctuated by the various creatures living their simple lives. 

After some time we rounded a bend and saw the end of the path. As we did so Sophia let out a muted gasp. The end of the path opened up at a clearing that led to a large cliff overlooking Astera and the ocean which it sat next to. The clearing was carpeted in flowers, with bees happily enjoying the beautiful feast spread in front of them. 

“It’s beautiful Raed…” she whispered as she walked gingerly into the flowers. “And what a view!”

I followed her a few steps behind, doing the best that I could to avoid stepping on flowers or bees. “It’s a good place to end a hike,” I agreed, sitting down near the edge of the cliff and looked out at the world beneath me, so small and far away. Dog scampered through the flowers chasing a large beetle that was doing its best to fly out of reach, and I turned and watched Sophia as she looked around happily, taking in the entire scene as well as she could.

After a few moments more, she stopped looking around and sat by me, a broad smile spread across her face. “Thank you for showing me this place Raed. It’s incredible.” 

I nodded silently. We sat there among the flowers for a few minutes looking over the cliff, listening to the hum of the bees busily working. I watched as one buzzed right up to Sophia, landing on her cheek. She froze, seeming uncertain as to how to respond. So I leaned over to her and reached out. Her eyes turned to me as I crooked a finger and brushed it gently against the bee’s legs, lightly touching her cheek as I did so. The bee gradually repositioned itself onto my finger as I continued to nudge it, at which point I pulled my hand away, bringing the bee with me. 

“It must have thought you were a flower,” I noted as I examined the cute little thing. It crawled around my hand for a few moments before losing interest and flying off. I glanced over and noticed that Sophia was giving me an odd look. “Either that or you were sweating and it wanted to grab some saltwater.”

The odd look vanished and her face burst into a smile. “I hope it was the former,” she laughingly told me, “But thank you. Raed, the Sapphire Star, saving me from monsters both big and small.” Her broad smile dimpled her cheeks. 

The chime of her laughter was pleasantly warm and comfortable, so my retort died in my throat, and I instead leaned back and enjoyed the moment. After some time however, I looked back to the cliff and noticed the position of the sun, realizing that it was well past noon. As nice as this hike had been, we hadn’t done any work today. I could envision the list of jobs requested expanding with every minute. So I reluctantly stood up and dusted myself off. 

“We should head back down,” I stated as I held out a hand to Sophia. She took it in a soft but strong grip and I helped her up. “Thank you for accompanying me.”

“It’s been my pleasure,” she responded quickly as she straightened her own outfit. “I admit I lost track of time somewhat. By the time we get back down we will have lost most of the day.” She frowned, but didn’t seem especially upset. 

“There’s a faster way down,” I noted as I looked through my gear. 

“Oh?” Sophia didn’t seem to understand until I pulled out my glider mantle and threw it around my shoulders. “I did say later…” Her body stiffened, suggesting nervousness, but she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Okay, I can do it.” She paused, her confident look cracking for an instant, “Not as abrupt this time alright? Give me a chance to prepare myself.”

I dipped my head in acknowledgment and walked to the edge of the cliff, reaching out a hand to test the wind. Soon after, Sophia came and stood beside me, standing straight and wearing a determined expression. “Okay, let’s do this.”

I walked behind her, wrapping my arm around her waist and lifting her up. I held her to myself tightly, feeling her racing heartbeat through my clothes. It was a pleasant feeling, and I noticed that my own heart rate was higher than normal as well. I wasn’t sure why I was feeling nervous, but I put it out of my mind for the time being. “Let’s go.”

I stepped off the cliff, timing the step to coincide with a strong updraft, and my mantle filled instantly. We rose a few feet into the air, giving me more than enough room to maneuver away from the cliff face. We began sailing gently down, and after we had dropped a dozen feet or so I looked up to see Dog at the edge of the cliff glaring daggers at me. Shit. 

Unfortunately I didn't have time to think about whatever revenge Dog was going to cook up for me. I was still gliding with one more passenger than the mantle was designed for after all. I steadied us by adjusting my weight, but was slightly thrown off when I felt my passenger copy my movements. The unexpected additional movement made us wobble a little, but it seemed like Sophia was trying to work with me. A second person was generally going to make steering more difficult, but if she managed to consistently match my movements we might be able to fly almost as well as I would alone. 

I decided to test this by leaning into a sharp turn. Sophia followed my lead, leaning as well. The result was a turn almost as fast and graceful as I would have been able to pull off alone. We swooped swiftly through the open air. 

With empty skies wide in front of us I had a lot more freedom to experiment than when I was surrounded by coral outcroppings. We rode the wind, improving our synchronization as we did so, and by the time we reached the bottom of the cliff we were moving as one, perfectly executing spirals and turns. Wind rushed past us as we swooped and swerved, scaring a few birds in the process. All the while we dropped, rapidly speeding down the mountain that had taken us hours to climb up. 

We landed on the shore of the sea near Astera proper, stumbling as we changed from graceful flying team to two mismatched explorers bunched together. I let Sophia go, shaking my tired arm to ease the tension. 

We stood a few steps apart from each other panting for a moment. After I caught my breath I straightened, crossed my arms, and appraised her. “You learned quickly. Tell the Armorer to prepare you a mantle.” It wouldn’t always be useful, but giving her another option for mobility would likely be convenient at some point. 

She looked up at me and smiled shyly, “Are you sure I’m ready? I don’t need to practice more with you?” 

“You are ready.” I thought for a moment, and then qualified my statement, “Start with smaller jumps though.”

“I’ll tell the Armorer then.” With that she began walking, headed back to Astera. With a couple of long strides I caught up to her, and we walked the rest of the way to the town in silence. 

We went our separate ways when we arrived, her to the Armorer and me to the various tasks I had left undone due to our mountain meetup. Nothing special, just my normal chores and hunting prep. Dog didn’t show up while I was working, but I figured that he was taking his time while plotting an appropriate punishment for me. He always had a knack for showing up when I needed him, so I wasn’t too worried about his safety. 

As I was finishing tending my beehive, the Commander approached me from behind, clasping my shoulder. “Good work out there with the subspecies. Your work is as fast and reliable as ever. Also, if you see your temporary handler, let her know that we appreciate her punctual reports. They give invaluable information for our hunters and researchers to use.” I frowned to myself as he said this. Did they really care about those reports, or did they ignore them like Sophia suspected? Seemingly unaware of my discomfort, he continued, “But don’t get too comfortable. We have received word from Seliana of several Barioth sightings.”

My misgivings were unable to hold against news like this. My frown vanished as I straightened up and faced him with great interest. I had heard of Barioths before, but up until now I hadn’t known of any encounters with them in the New World. Well known as ferocious and fast predators, I had no doubt that they would prove a formidable foe. The only expression I wore was one of focused determination. 

The Commander noticed my change in demeanor immediately and laughed, “Ha ha! That got your attention. Now I don’t think there’s any rush on it, but I figure you will want to head over there soon to make sure nobody else tries to take it down before you can.”

A greedy gleam filled my eyes as I considered the wealth of new pieces of equipment I might be able to have built using the body of a powerful new monster. “Thanks for the information. I will head out soon.”

With that, the Commander nodded and walked off. I looked over at a researcher sitting and reading nearby, and handed him the mostly empty bottle of summoner jelly I had been feeding my bees. “Here, I’m done.”

The researcher looked up with a start and took the jar while grimacing.. “Ugh. I miss your Handler. Ever since she took off it’s been work work work. She was always the first to say that we needed a break. I miss breaks.” He sighed, and continued grumbling as he walked into a back room. I wasn’t sure if the researchers really needed encouragement to rest, but it seems like they really appreciated Handler. I supposed that she was good at enjoying her down time at least. 

I left the garden and began searching for Sophia. I spotted her just as she was leaving the Armourer, and when she saw me she smiled. “I just got the mantle. What do you think?” She turned and the mantle billowed gently in the air.

I examined it. It was a good fit, and it rested on her shoulders with an elegance I hadn’t realized was possible for the bulky cloak. “It’s good you got it quickly. We need to head back to Seliana.” 

Sophia’s smile faded and she sighed as she returned to a more businesslike demeanor. “Understood. What’s the mission?”

“We’ve got a Barioth to deal with.” My eyes shone in anticipation.

“Oh!” Her eyes widened. “I look forward to seeing you fight it.” She raised a hand to her chin. “I wonder why we haven’t seen any until now. Interesting.”

I shrugged. “I’d like to head out today if possible.” Any excuse to put off the stupid gathering assignments that I knew were piling up. 

“Got it. I’ll be ready.” With that Sophia gave a wave and jogged off. 

I watched her go, until I was interrupted by a stinging sensation on my leg. I looked down to see Dog, who was kneading my trousers with his claws. He was acting the happy cat but with fury in his eyes as he dug them into my legs through the tough material. “I deserve that,” I admitted. Hopefully he wouldn’t draw blood. “There isn’t gonna be an easy way to earn your forgiveness is there?”

From the look on his face, there would not. This meant trouble for me in the days to come. Dog’s pranks could end up remarkably over the top. I’d have to keep my eyes open. Wouldn’t want a repeat of the ants. 

“Understood. Well, we are headed back to Seliana, so I hope you weren’t expecting to stay in warm weather much longer.” Dog shrugged and followed me when I began walking home. As I walked I listened to Dog growling and meowing quietly to himself. No doubt planning terrible things to do to me when I wasn’t expecting it. But there was no helping it, so I put it out of my mind once I arrived. Instead I focused on packing. 

I wasn’t quite finished when I heard a knock at the door. Dog walked over to the door and opened it, revealing Sophia standing in front with a bag slung over her back. “I’m ready to go, so I thought I would let you know. I hope you don’t mind me intruding.”

I looked at her thoughtfully. She was breathing slowly, but slow through control rather than relaxation, and her cheeks were red. It seemed likely that she had run all the way here.“I appreciate it. You can come in.” Her eyes lit up as she entered, and she looked around curiously. 

“You have a nice place here,” she remarked as I returned to packing. I kept an eye on her as she walked gingerly through my home. “The morning view must be breathtaking.” 

“Hmm,” I responded vaguely in the affirmative. There didn’t seem to be much to say to that. 

“And it is quite roomy too… does your Handler stay here too?” Sophia asked quietly.

“No.” I responded quickly and emphatically. There was no way I was letting that catastrophe on two legs enter my carefully organized sanctum. She didn’t even know where I lived, much less live here herself. 

Sophia nodded to herself. “I see.” 

It seemed like she might have had more to say, but I was done prepping. I stood up and shouldered my pack, heading towards the door. “Let’s go.”

She closed her mouth and nodded, and we set off to the transports. Soon we were headed off to Seliana once more. My training took over and I was asleep almost the moment I sat down in the transport, with Dog nestled up comfortably against me. Sophia was across from me, and her studious look as she read was the last thing I saw before my eyes slid shut. 

\---

When we arrived at Seliana we were met by the Team Leader. He waved to us and led us to the mission room, where he gave us our briefing. 

“Welcome back, and good job back at Astera,” He began with a smile before turning to a stack of papers. His expression darkened as he continued, “But now for the important stuff. Your Handler’s been using blissbills to keep me updated. Sounds like they came across a Barioth while doing their investigation. Here’s the report.” He grabbed a piece of paper from the pile and opened it up. “Wow, even her handwriting is so beautiful…” He stared at the paper for an uncomfortable moment, then gave a start and shook his head awkwardly, “Oh! Umm… Anyway! ‘Survey interrupted by Barioth, reporting as per protocol. Will shelter until safe. This will cause a delay, but nothing to be concerned over.’” Team Leader, never one to follow orders, looked up at us with a concerned expression. “I’m sure they are fine, right? Yeah of course they are…” He seemed to be trying to convince himself more than us. “But to be on the safe side… I’m going to ask you to take care of that Barioth. There’s always the risk it finds their shelter after all! Besides, we don’t want her stuck out in the cold too long. Better for her to come back asap.”

I was no expert at reading emotion, but it seemed that he was taking this situation a little more personally than it really warranted. But that was probably just the nerves of being new to leading an entire base. Sophia and I took our leave and went to the canteen. 

“Team Leader seems quite worried about your Handler. He even seemed a little flustered,” Sophia noted while looking like she had learned an interesting secret. “Making sure she is safe seems very important to him. I know it is getting late, but do you think we should head out to hunt it tonight?” Sophia asked as we walked. There was snow on the ground and our boots made soft crunching noises with each step.

I could tell that she was trying to communicate something to me, but I couldn’t figure out what it was, so I answered the question simply. “We probably should. He’ll bother us in the morning if we don’t.” We sat down at the bar, and the kindly old grandmother palico who served as head chef approached us. “We’ll have some stew, and make sure it has lots of meat.” I glanced over at Sophia, and she nodded in agreement. 

The grandmotherly palico meowed at her helpers, and within a few minutes our meal was prepared. We energetically guzzled our bowls of the delicious soup as she looked on approvingly. Hunger sated, we moved to stand up, but the palico rapped my hand with her ladle and looked at us both with disapproval, before pouring a second bowl each. Sophia and I looked at each other, and she shrugged with a grin. We settled into our chairs and together managed to work through several more bowls of the rich and filling soup, all while under the watchful eye of the chef. FInally she decided that we had eaten an acceptable amount, and allowed us to leave. The weight of the food would likely slow us down at first, but that was a risk one took when eating her food. Nobody was allowed to eat just one bowl of stew made by the Grammeowster Chef. 

And thus we left, prepared to take on the first Barioth of the new world. A hunter, a handler, and a palico, armed to the teeth. With a handler like Sophia and a palico like Dog, I wasn’t even slightly nervous. I was certain that we’d have that Barioth down in no time.


	5. Chapter 5

We arrived at the camp at dusk. Neither Sophia nor I knew much about the Barioth, and if Dog knew anything he wasn’t telling. So I grabbed a few shock traps and decided that would have to be good enough. The clock was ticking after all. We stepped out of the secluded alcove where the camp was located and into the true wilds. 

We were immediately met with biting wind and snow that put the cold of Seliana to shame. Every bit of exposed skin was attacked, and the wind went through my layers as if they weren’t there at all. Sophia and I were both shivering almost immediately. I looked down at my shaking hands with concern. Discomfort I could work with, but if I couldn’t keep my hands still my fighting capability would be seriously hampered. 

Sophia noticed my expression and held up a finger telling me to wait. I wasn’t sure what her plan was when I saw her step off the path and out of sight. After a few moments she came back with some wild peppers and I understood. She mixed them into a bottle with water and some other ingredients and handed me one of the resulting hot drinks. I downed the spicy mixture and got to enjoy the pins and needles of feeling rapidly returning to my fingers. 

Shaking my hands to get rid of the stinging, I handed Sophia back the bottle. “Thanks,” I still hadn’t gotten in the habit of stocking hot drinks for the Hinterlands. Another thing to add to the list of habits I needed to form. “I wish I had time to gather more.”

Sophia took the bottle back with a small smile and stored it in her pack. “You don’t have to. You go on ahead and focus on the hunt. I’ll gather some more supplies and then rejoin you, hopefully before the drink’s effects start to fade.”

I nodded gratefully and began looking around for any traces of the beast. It was slow going at first, forcing my way through snow that came up to my waist while fighting off the packs of sharp fanged bushy-tailed wulgs twice the size of Dog. After I killed a few they backed off somewhat, though they continued to follow me with a surprising lack of concern. 

As I searched deeper into the area however, I found more mountainous terrain that blocked the worst of the snow drifts. Dog hopped off my shoulder once he could walk without having to burrow through snow, and I didn’t mind the reduction in weight. My tracking efforts sped up considerably at that point, and it wasn’t long before I found traces of a large beast’s passing. Not long after I encountered claw marks gouged deep into the stone - solid stone carved like warm butter.

I followed the trail east, now easily spotting claw gashes and broken stone outcroppings, eventually leading to a large open area. To the north and the east was a network of mountains and caves, and to the south was a cliff partially obscured by thick fog. My focus was on the center however, where a large monster was slowly lazily meandering through the snow.

The Barioth’s huge white body was an intimidating sight. It had a long sturdy tail and lithe hindlegs, but its upper body was where the beast was truly impressive. From its maw curved two massive fangs, each as long as my forearm. It had leathery wings that connected its body to its massive muscular forelimbs. I took a deep breath and moved in to engage.

That’s when I learned just how fast the Barioth could move. I swung my hammer, but its forepaws smashed down, launching the monster’s body away from me. It spun on the smooth rock and ice before catching itself with its claws. In just moments it had moved itself to the opposite side of the clearing, and now the Barioth stared at me hungrily. I gripped my hammer and began cautiously moving towards it once more. 

The Barioth noticed the movement, and again it flexed the muscles of its forelimbs, hurling itself forward, far faster than I could dodge. One massive claw struck my armored body, knocking me across the slick ground. I managed to keep my eyes on the beast however, and fortunately it stopped its movement near me.

I seized the opportunity and sprung up while swinging my hammer. It connected this time, landing solidly on the snout of the monster. I grinned triumphantly, but my joy was short lived. Almost instantly I saw the forelimbs extend and send the Barioth forward once more, knocking me to the side and sending me bouncing across the snow once more.

My slide ended with my head resting painfully against a rock, and for a moment I reflected on just how sore I was going to be the next morning. I stood up with a groan with a hand on the back of my head. I felt my back pop as I straightened up and took stock of my situation. 

I was now prepared for the speed at which the Barioth moved, but that didn’t mean dodging the brute was easy. This time I waited for him to come, jumping and barely rolling out of the way as it launched itself at me and spun. It lashed out with its tail as it did so, and I felt the thrum of the air as the appendage passed mere inches above me. 

Lines were gouged in the stone and ice where the monster’s claws stopped its wild turning, and I found myself face to face with the beast. Never one to ignore an opportunity, I swung out with my hammer, landing a solid blow on one of its fangs. The fang broke in half with a satisfying loud crack, and the Barioth reared back angrily. Dog took the opportunity to rush in and scoop up the fang before dashing behind once more. 

I leapt back as quickly as I could, but the monster was quicker. It lunged for me, its maw wide and hungry. I managed to avoid being bitten, but the unbroken fang sliced through the armor on my shoulder, leaving a painful gash and knocking me sideways onto the hard stone. As I was getting up he swung one of his massive forepaws, hitting me right in the gut and launching into the edge of the entrance of a cave. I got up slowly this time, bruised, winded, and with a nasty headache. Were a Barioth not there to encourage me to hurry up, I might have stayed seated for a few minutes. But needs must when the monster drives, so I forced my body to stand. 

The Barioth seemed more confident now and was moving a bit slower, as if taunting me. Aggravating as that was, I wasn’t too proud to take advantage of it. I let myself limp and stumble, allowing its arrogant confidence to grow as I moved in close. The moment I was in range I dropped the act and rushed inside its guard, using all of my strength to swing my hammer and give the monster a headache every bit as bad as mine. The blow connected with its forehead and the Barioth leapt backwards. It gave me a look of contempt before turning and scaling the mountain, apparently deciding I wasn’t worth the effort. 

I sighed and caught my breath for a moment. The mountain wall I was going to have to climb towered above me and I felt a wave of fatigue hit. The warmth of the hot drink was fading, and the cutting wind and snow were sapping my energy. But I had a job, so I carefully climbed my way up slippery ledges and icy outcroppings, using my clutch claw to speed up the venture when I saw the chance. It was slow and cold going, but I stubbornly pushed through, and finally got to the top, where I found Dog casually leaning against a rock. He waved to me cheerily, his thick fur leaving him apparently untouched by the cold. Grunting in annoyance I walked past him, making sure to knock some snow his way.

Barioth tracks led to a large tunnel. I trudged wearily forward, happy at least to be able to take cover from the bitter wind. Dog bounded up beside me, then ran up my back to sit on my shoulder. I didn’t appreciate the extra weight, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of telling him that. 

The tunnel opened into a massive cave, and in the center of the cave I saw the Barioth. To my surprise however, its attention wasn’t on me. It had encountered a Banbaro, and the two monsters were glaring at each other. I hid and watched, hoping that the giant goat-like creature would be able to soften up the Barioth for me while giving me a chance to catch my breath. They roared and charged at each other, but the combat was disappointingly short. At the last moment the Barioth dodged out of the way of the Banbaro charge, and leapt for its throat. The Banbaro was knocked to the ground with the Barioth’s massive fang embedded deep in its throat. If I hadn’t snapped the other fang the Banbaro might have died instantly. Regardless, there was still life in the beast, and it struggled in the grip of the Barioth, which jerked its neck viciously and flung the Banbaro across the cave floor. Dog took the opportunity to run in and grab every bit and piece of the beast that had broken off. After that the Banbaro limped away rapidly, thoroughly beaten without having managed to lay horn or paw on the Barioth. Most disappointing. The Barioth roared in victory, then turned to face me. I was surprised that it had spotted me until I realized that my hammer was visible over the rock I was hiding behind, and to make it worse my shivering was making it visibly shake, as if I were trying to get the monster’s attention. Attempting stealth was no longer an option, so I stood up and readied my weapon. 

It charged, and I rushed in to meet it. I managed to land a few good blows on its head with only minimal retaliation. The lightning fast leaps and spins had vanished, replaced by much more conservative attacks. I surmised that even if it had been an easy win, the effort involved in trouncing the Banbaro must have been enough to wind the Barioth. The fight with me and the subsequent climb probably played a role as well. Unfortunately even the relatively light hits it landed on my freezing body made me feel like metal between hammer and anvil. After what felt like an eternity of this, the Barioth grew annoyed, breathed an icy cold blast my way, and left through a tunnel high up the cave wall. I dodged the blast, and as I watched the monster disappear, I sat down heavily and tried to catch my breath. My hands were numb with cold, so climbing was out of the question. 

I sat there exhausted for a few minutes before I saw Sophia approaching in the distance. I considered standing up, but my legs refused to cooperate. Sophia arrived on the scene and found me still sitting, battered and blue in the face. She rushed forward in concern and thrust a bottle of spicy hot drink into my hands. I took it and drank, the warmth returning life and energy to me bit by painful bit. With the warmth came some shame. Once more I found myself being rescued, instead of being the rescuer. 

“Are you alright? You look like hell!” Sophia looked unnecessarily worried, so I waved her off. 

“I need food. I’m starving.” I hadn’t really realized it until I had warmed up a bit, but my stomach was crying for nourishment. I was hungry enough that my combat effectiveness had probably been significantly impacted. 

She nodded with a determined expression on her face. “Let’s get back to camp, I’ll take care of you”. A strange mix of emotions filled me. It rankled that once more I was relying on her instead of being the reliable one. But it also felt comforting, knowing that I had a smart mind and capable hands looking out for me. And underneath that was a whisper of fear. Fear of coming to rely on something, someone who was only a temporary addition to my life.

“Good,” I said nonchalantly. 

She led me to a midway camp she had set up in the cave tunnels, through a passage too small for any monsters to get through. After we climbed in I sat down wearily, and Sophia began cooking in the firepit. I warmed myself at the fire, checked my inventory and drank a healing potion before stepping inside the storage tent. She had been busy during the fight, collecting various herbs and crafting supplies, storing them all here. Using the supplies I restocked on my potions and polished up my hammer. I then left the tent and sat by Dog. He allowed me to pet him, but to my chagrin he refused to show me what parts he had managed to scavenge from the Barioth and Banbaro. I sighed and began watching Sophia work through the corner of my eye. She seemed somewhat uncertain, far less experienced at cooking than my official handler. I also noticed her glancing my way nervously, so she was probably worried about cooking for me for the first time. The change from her unshakably confident demeanor regarding her research skills was charming in its own way. Eventually the food was done, and she placed the heaping tray in front of me. 

I tore into it, pausing on occasion to chug some of the beer she provided. The meal was admittedly far simpler than my official handler tended to make, and it wasn’t quite as perfect. A few of the pieces of meat were a little too dry, and the spices weren’t as varied as I was used to, but it was quite good regardless. I looked her way and realized that she was watching me nervously. I gave her a thumbs up, and she pumped her fist gleefully. I couldn’t help but smile at the pure satisfaction on her face, and somehow the rest of the meal tasted immeasurably better as I wolfed through it with zeal.

Once I was finished with the meal I got up to go, but Sophia stopped me. “I don’t know how much you have figured out already, but I noticed a few things that might make life easier for you.” Out came the notebook, and I couldn’t quite stop a wry grin from touching the corner of my mouth. 

“Tell me then” I inclined my head, ceding the spotlight to her. 

“First of all, I have enough hot drinks now that you shouldn’t have to worry about getting cold anytime soon,” as she said this she handed them to me. “But as for the hunt itself, I noticed that the Barioth relies on his claws to keep himself steady after leaping. It will likely be much less graceful if you damage its forelimbs enough, especially its claws.”

I remembered the deep gashes in the stone left by the claws and nodded. “Makes sense.” Sophia smiled and continued. 

“I didn’t see your entire fight, but by examining the locations where combat took place I did notice that the Barioth seemed to decrease in strength significantly as the fight progressed. It seems that your attacks to its head and its reckless fighting style combined tired it out extremely quickly. I’d advise remembering that and avoiding giving it a chance to break away and catch its breath again.”

“I thought it was taunting me,” I admitted with some embarrassment while scratching my chin. If Sophia was right, I had allowed the monster to run off the moment it had gotten winded. A major mistake I wouldn’t let myself make again. 

Sophia looked confused at that. “Is that a common thing? Monsters taunting you?”

It certainly felt that way. Monsters that would wait for you to move in close, then fly away to a new location right before I hit them. Monsters that would hit me with attacks just strong enough to knock me over every time I stood up. Monsters that would dance around a trap I positioned carefully, before leaving the area entirely. “Yes,” I nodded seriously. Monsters absolutely taunted me all the time. 

“Huh…” Sophia considered that for a moment. “I hadn’t heard of that before. Well anyways, it seems to get tired quickly. Remember that.” She didn’t seem convinced by my assertion, but I knew the truth. 

I nodded anyway and hefted my hammer. She turned to Dog, seemingly with the intent of checking the validity of my statements, but I cut her off. “Anything else to be aware of?”

The question was an effective distraction. She put her hand to her chin and tapped her notebook thoughtfully. “There’s a species of pine here whose cones seem to have a mild invigorating effect for a short period after being crushed, but that’s all I’ve got.” She shrugged with uncertainty as she flipped through her notes to be sure. 

I would keep my eye out for them, but that didn’t sound worth going out of my way to grab. “Thank you,” I told Sophia before climbing out of the cave. Time to turn theoretical into practical. 

With a full stomach and warmth filling me, the world seemed a much more positive place. Finding the start of the tracks was fairly easy, and the climbs that had looked so daunting before looked quite manageable now. It also helped to know that Sophia was just a little ways behind, ready to help if need be, and with a perfect view if I ever screwed up. Not that I had any intention of letting her see such a thing. 

The tracks led to a cave covered in stalactites. The huge stone spikes reminded me of the times I had fought off Zorah Magdaros alongside the rest of the Research Commision, giving me an idea. I saw the Barioth slowly winding its way through them, and decided to combine the lessons I had learned then and the advice Sophia had given me. Carefully sneaking closer to the monster, I waited for the perfect moment as it stepped forward, then launched a stone at the base of the stalactite. The massive column snapped and the spike fell directly onto the front left paw of the Barioth, shattering its claw in the process. 

The monster screamed in pain and fury, and as I clutched my ears it turned to me with death in its eyes. It flung itself at me, and I dodged just in time. The Barioth landed, turned… and then kept turning as its wounded paw slipped on the icy ground and the massive beast… fell over. 

It righted itself almost instantly, but I promised myself never to forget the sight of that arrogant and agile monster face planting into the ground. Things like that easily made up for any downsides in the job that I encountered now and then. But I had an angry Barioth to deal with. I could enjoy the memory later. 

Rage seemed to give it an extra boost of speed, so I was unable to dodge the next blow completely. I avoided its right claw neatly, but took its tail swing directly in the face. I skidded along the ground, but was able to maintain enough focus to see that the Barioth was standing under another stalactite. I launched another stone, and once more a giant spike fell upon the beast, this time on its head, knocking it to the ground with a heavy thud. I rushed forward and set to work smashing its right paw with my hammer. A few heavy blows and the claws shattered just before the monster shook its head and righted itself. 

I bounded back, keeping my eye on it to see what its next move would be. It gingerly stepped forward before roaring, likely from the pain in its paws. It breathed a cloud of ice at me, but I deftly slid out of the way. Unfortunately it seemed to have expected that, because it was charging directly at the spot I had dodged to. I decided to at least trade blows, and swung my hammer to meet the Barioth halfway. 

The hammer connected with its remaining fang, but then its face connected with my body. I felt the fang press into my armor, but then it snapped and fell to the ground. Not to say that I was left unharmed however - the two fang stumps slammed into me, dealing plenty of damage all on their own. 

I would likely have been hurt even more than that, but the Barioth continued sliding, going right past me. It was seemingly unable to stop its movement as its forelimbs scrabbled helplessly against the smooth icy ground, finally running into a wall before it could regain its control. 

I glimpsed Sophia out of the corner of my eye and sent a thought of gratitude her way. Damaging the forelimbs had turned a brutal fight into a decidedly winnable one. I turned back to the monster, only to see it climbing away as fast as it could. Sighing, I put away my hammer and began chasing after the Barioth once more. 

Apex predators like Barioths sometimes liked to run for a bit before turning and ambushing foolhardy hunters, so I allowed it a healthy lead, but I never let it lose me entirely. I had no intention of letting it catch its breath this time. I followed it through several tunnels, eventually rounding a corner to see a small cave filled with the bones of smaller monsters, with the Barioth in the center laying down for a power nap. 

I paused for a moment to watch its movements. In that time Sophia stole up beside me and tapped my shoulder. “I found some after all,” she whispered to me while handing me a small pinecone. Her quiet words in my ear made me shiver. It was an oddly pleasant feeling. 

I took the cone, but when she saw me shiver Sophia paused. “Don’t forget to top up on hot drinks. You have plenty of them,” Her soft whisper was almost musical.

I smiled and shook my head. She really was overprotective sometimes, but I couldn’t fault her for it. I crushed the cone in my hand, releasing a powerful and energizing scent of pine. Not wanting to waste the boost, I stepped forward to finish the job. The Barioth had fallen fast asleep during our short exchange, so I walked up quietly, lifted my hammer high, and brought it down with all my might upon the creature’s head. 

It jolted awake, roaring in pain and anger. I tried to dodge out of the way, but it lashed out its tail, knocking me into the wall. I grabbed a ledge and held on for a moment before leaping down and hitting it with an attack of my own. The blow stunned it for a moment, so I pulled out a shock trap and set it up in the few moments I had before it gathered its senses. I had just finished when the Barioth once again charged me, but this time its movement was arrested by a strong electrical charge for a few moments. I launched a few tranq bombs at its face, and the Barioth made one final attempt to break free before collapsing. The drugs and the electrical current were too much for its wounded body to handle. I stood up straight and looked to Sophia, inclining my head respectfully. Her help had been invaluable by feeding me, finding intel, and keeping me supplied. I wouldn’t have been able to complete the hunt without her. 

As she approached I summed up my thoughts on the matter, “You did well.”

Sophia took the statement in stride. She stopped a couple of feet from me and looked me in the eyes, saying “You got the first Barioth kill for the Research Commission. That’s a pretty major accomplishment yourself…”

Her gaze was intense. There was pride there, but something more. The post-victory glow of satisfaction in a job well done was a good look on her, and I felt my heart rate accelerate. I stepped forward, unsure what I was doing but knowing I needed to do something, when a familiar voice broke me out of my reverie. 

“I knew it! Hey Partner!” The joyful cry of the Handler broke the calm of the cave. She rushed in, waving wildly with a huge smile on her face. I stepped back from Sophia and she turned to face the Handler as well, a strange expression on her face as she did so. 

But then I saw Dog. He usually would run up to me after a successful hunt, happily showing off the parts he had grabbed and pressing his head against me in expectation of pats. This time however, he wasn’t running towards me. He was running in the opposite direction, leaping into the arms of Handler and embracing her tightly. 

“Come here you big furball!” Handler cried out as she squeezed him tightly. Then Dog turned, and gave me the most self satisfied smirk I had ever seen from him. He had been planning this betrayal from the beginning. It shouldn’t have been a big deal, but somehow it was. My trusted companion, abandoning me without a moment’s hesitation. The blow cut deep. Completely unaware of my feelings, Handler looked to me. “Thanks for being here for us,” she said gratefully.

But I controlled my expression when the Tracker walked in. She looked at us seriously and spoke, “You’re lifesavers. We had to hide when the Barioth showed up. But once you distracted it, we were able to get a good look around.”

Handler piped up, “The ship we found was covered in gashes unlike what a Barioth could make, and we found more of the strange blue shards, but these were fresh! Newer versions of what grandfather gave me!”

I still wasn’t sure why she cared so much about the shards. They were probably from some monster that lived in the area. Once we found and killed a few we would be able to make an entire armor set out of them. But I didn’t see any benefit to arguing, so I kept my mouth shut. 

“The only other clue we found was several small monsters frozen in ice,” the Tracker added, “the Barioth isn’t strong enough to do that, so we are dealing with something even bigger than him.”

Sophia chimed in, “Were these frozen monsters fresh? Do you think the monster is still in the area?”

As if to answer her question, an ear splitting screech jolted us to attention. We all rushed out of the cave to see the source of the noise, leaving the captured Barioth forgotten for the moment. 

Flying through the mountains was a creature that was unquestionably an elder dragon. Massive wings held its lithe body aloft, and its breath froze every creature touched. I heard the Tracker murmur “Velkhana,” a name I had only heard in stories. As we continued to watch, the massive powerful monster flew on, completely unaware or uninterested in our existence. 

“No… It’s headed for Astera!” As Handler said this, I realized she was right to some extent. Astera was a good ways away, and the Elder Dragon wasn’t on a direct path, but given the direction it was headed it could very well end up causing some problems. Every mile it flew towards Astera increased the odds of hunters being ambushed, of ecosystems being destroyed, or even the Velkhana setting its eyes on the hunting town itself, endangering all the people in Astera.

I looked to Sophia and we began gathering up our things. No words were necessary, getting back to base was the unquestionable priority. As we did so Handler and Tracker spoke to each other in hushed tones, but I wasn’t paying much attention. I was too focused on packing and considering possible outcomes of the Velkhana’s migration. 

It didn’t take us long to prepare, and not long after that to get back to our transports and heading back to base. Dog sat next to me, apparently deciding that his punishment had been enough. Handler sat on my other side, talking at me about something I wasn’t following closely enough to remember. Through half lidded eyes I watched Sophia across from me, once more buried in her books. With the return of Handler she felt more distant somehow, and while that troubled me, I didn’t understand it well enough to do anything about it. 

Sophia lowered her book suddenly and looked up. In response I opened my eyes and sat up, but she didn’t look at me. “Handler, you should probably send another message to the field team leader. He seemed particularly concerned about your safety.” With that she turned back to her book, seeming to intentionally avoid my gaze. 

This was it, I realized. My temporary partnership with Sophia was over, and I was back to working with Handler. I was surprised at how much the thought saddened me. We had only been working together for a short time, but it felt like far longer. I finally felt that I understood what the partnership of hunter and handler was supposed to be, only to have it snatched back the moment I had it. I looked over at Sophia, but her face was buried in a book, not even noticing my glance. 

The trip to Astera was not a pleasant one.


End file.
